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by
Jessica Gruenling

ANCHORAGE, Ak-- The National Archives and Records Association is closing its Anchorage facility this year. It's an announcement that blind-sided all of its employees.

NARA is under financial pressure with a budget of ten million dollars less than last year. They are making the decision to close its Anchorage facility in 2014 in order to save over 500,000 dollars annually.

Local historians and archivists are not taking this news lightly and will not go down with out a fight. They have spoken with congressional delegates who will be speaking with NARA on Friday to discuss further options.

The facility has been opened since the early 1990's and holds documents people use on a regular basis to conduct court cases, environmental assessments, land settlemen issues, and other educational reasons.

With its closure all records will be moved to the Seattle location at the Sand Point facility.

"To take our history, our everyday history that we utilize and need in order to grow and expand this state and to put it in another state is simply unacceptable," Pennelope Goforth, Manager SeaCat Explorations.

NARA says they will digitize portions of records to make them easily accessible, but Goforth argues that there are too many documents that in their current format can not be digitzied.

In it's offical press release NARA says employees who work in Anchorage will be offered positions at other National Archives facilities.

The National Archives and Records association also owns nine acres in Midtown that are not being used and could be sold for about 4 million dollars and keep the facility open for the next four to five ears, but when asked officals had no response.